Gin Jones

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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

I've got my own domain now (ginjones.com), and I'll be blogging there, effective September 1, 2014. I've got a test post there now, but I won't have anything new in either location until then, and from then on, all new material will be at my new site.

I'm taking a "vacation" from everything except storytelling until then.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

No news or observations to share -- I've got my head down, ignoring the world, while writing the first draft of what's tentatively called A DEALER OF DEATH (Helen Binney #3) -- so all I've got is a picture of my latest collection of (27) chemo caps to be donated this summer. Yeah, I do lean toward shades of blue when I choose the yarn. The other colors are generally from yarn donated by a friend.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

I've fallen off the television bandwagon for the most part. Not in a snobbish way; it's not that I prefer "films." I think some of the very best visual storytelling is happening on television, compared to movies. It's just that I've become very selective in what I watch.

Earlier this year, I was introduced (via Jenny Crusie's blog, arghink.com) to the now-cancelled tv series, Leverage. I missed it in its original run, because I don't have cable, but I loved the first season (free online) so much that I actually signed up for a streaming service to watch the remaining seasons. Glommed them all in less than a month. That's something like 60 episodes, at the rate of about 3 a night!

There's a BBC series with a similar concept -- con artists with hearts of gold -- that I also loved: Hustle.

There are several BBC shows that I watch, although generally quite a while after their first airing, when they're available on DVD through my library. I catch up on Dr. Who from time to time, along with Midsomer Murders (a "cozy procedural" series), and Vera (procedural and grim, but fascinating characters). The American shows that I binge-watch on DVD include Justified (the second season with Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett is absolutely brilliant, and Walton Goggins is amazing as the ongoing antagonist) and, yes, it's completely unlike me, and I have to cover my eyes sometime, but I just love The Walking Dead.
For the most part, though, I can take or leave television. Mostly leave. Too many other things I want to be doing, too many stories to tell myself or to read or listen to.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

There's a concept in cooking that you'll run across if you watch any of the cooking reality shows: mise en place. It translates to "put in place," and basically means getting all the ingredients ready before you start to cook.

When I was younger, I ignored all the cookbook admonitions to gather my ingredients before diving into the recipe. I was too impatient and wanted to get to the good stuff, the mixing and cooking and eating. I raced all over the kitchen, grabbing ingredients as I needed them.

It worked fine when I had boundless energy. As I get older, though, I don't race anywhere, and cooking has become a chore, rather than a hobby. Now, I find mise en place to be a lifesaver. Except, I do it sort of in slow-motion, or stop-motion. If I'm going to have chicken and rice pilaf for dinner, I'll measure out the rice while my breakfast oatmeal is cooking. Then, whenever I go into the kitchen during the day, I'll chop up a vegetable to go into the rice, or I'll measure out the seasonings. By the time I'm ready to make dinner, I've got all the prep work done, and I can throw everything together in just a few minutes.

My writing process has evolved similarly. I used to be too impatient to outline or do other pre-writing. As soon as I had the idea, I wanted to get right to the good part, the writing itself. Of course, that usually led to me stalling out at about the 50-page mark, when I'd have to stop and do the outlining, etc. (Some people can keep going without the outline, and I tried, but it never worked for me.)

Nowadays, I do a lot of pre-writing, which is a lot like mise en place for cooking. I put all the story ingredients in place over the course of a week or two, in small chunks of work, well before I start writing the actual manuscript. I gather together all the basics: the rough plot, the motifs, the recurring characters, the suspects, the setting and the motifs. (It's perhaps no coincidence that I call my process the "pizza method" of plotting.) And then when it comes time to "cook" the ingredients, to write the story, ... well, I won't say it's easy (writing is hard), but it's easier for me than when I had to race around my brain to find all the ingredients, as I was trying to write the story.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

I'm going to the RWA conference in a couple weeks, and I am NOT a good traveler. I start out all organized, and I've got my ticket and my picture ID and everything that needs to be laid out for security checks (like my laptop), all ready. But somehow, by the time I get to the checkpoint, I can't find anything, and I'm struggling with my luggage while being too stubborn and cheap to get some help.

But this time will be different! (I'm always saying that, but I really believe it this time.) I've got a brand new bag, with a main pocket for my ticket and ID and knitting and whatever odds and ends I need at hand while at the airport, and an outer pocket that's exactly the size of my wee little ChromeBook, making for easy access, either for the security check or for actually using it.

It's quilted, made out of scraps in colors that will match any shade of khaki pants I happen to be wearing in warm weather. It's also got an extra-long strap, for wearing the bag messenger-style, freeing up my hands for juggling my luggage.

Front (on top) and back (with ChromeBook peeking out):

Now I have to make a winter-colored one, since I made my last winter one a couple weeks before I got my ChromeBook, and it's about 1/2" too small to hold it.